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Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Possible Link Between Accuracy of Facts and 4 Star RT Book Review

In the May issue of RT Book Reviews is a 4 Star rating and book review for Northern Roses and Southern Belles. I'm thrilled that this anthology of Civil War stories and one post Civil War story found recognition not only by a reviewer for RT Book Reviews, but also other reviewers.

How did this happen? Was it pure luck, or did we six authors bring it about by writing the best stories we could that incorporated the most accurate facts we found? I believe it's the latter rather than pure luck. We researched incidents surrounding the Civil War and chose our external plots according to what interested each of us the most. Discovering all the facts followed next as we each studied our selected bit of history.

We gathered information and facts from various sources. Even though a couple of us chose stories that came from our family history, we researched the historical incidents involved. I used the Handbook of Texas Online where I found articles about people who had been involved in the history surrounding my story, "Are You Going to the Dance?" In addition, I used information from notes I had taken years ago from a couple of library books about intriguing incidents in Texas after the Civil War.

We wrote down our ideas and ran them by each other. Satisfied we were on the right track, we wrote rough drafts. After another round of critiques we fleshed out our stories. More critiquing followed until we each felt we'd written the best story we could.

In addition to our research and careful writing, we had an excellent editor from The Wild Rose Press who helped us fine tune our stories. The project took a lot of hard work from all of us to achieve the great results we've enjoyed. We crafted romance stories based on historical facts. Not only can our readers enjoy reading the romances, but they can learn a bit of history at the same time. We're confident we wrote romances that entertain while being historically accurate. For readers of historical romance, isn't that what makes a great story?

Northern Roses and Southern Belles, by Susan Macatee, Mary Ann Webber, Jeanmarie Hamilton, Jennifer Ross, Isabel Roman, and Caroline Clemmons, can be found at The Wild Rose Press, Amazon.com, and various other booksellers online.

Jeanmarie, Congratulations on your 4 Star RT rating for Northern Roses and Southern Belles! In addition to the facts you mentioned, I think your passion to bring your ancestors alive in story added another wonderful layer. *Hugs* I wish you continued success!

I'm psyched about that 4 star RT rating for our anthology, Jeanmarie! All of the stories were great and so full of history. I completely enjoyed reading all my anthology mate's stories. And I'm so glad American Civil War romances are finally getting some recognition.

Caroline,With the RT Convention in progress right now in Ohio, this seemed the opportune time to talk about the background of our anthology and the 4 Star Review from RT Book Reviews Magazine.Thanks for your continued support. Couldn't do it without you. :-)*Hugs*Jeanmarie

I love the title of this blog post. It's fascinating to learn about another author's process in writing a story. It's especially interesting that your group of writers worked together to create an anthology. And your 4 star review also shows that writing in a historical time period that you love causes success.

Great blog post, Jeanmarie. It says alot about you and the other authors' passion for your subject that you took the time to consult with each other on the anthology stories. You deserve the 4 star RT review. Congratulations to you all!

Jane,Thanks so much for your comments and insight. Yes, I guess our love of the time period gave a certain passion to our stories. No wonder we're all members of the Scandalous Victorians. ;-)*Hugs*Jeanmarie

Diane,Thanks for coming by! Yes, we worked together and actually formed a yahoo loop while we wrote the stories so we could critique and proof each other's work. Little did we know at the time the importance of forming our group. Thanks so much, on behalf of all of us involved with Northern Roses and Southern Belles. :-)

I definitely want to read Northern Roses and Southern Belles. So much emotion must have gone into this Anthology. Great post. I enjoyed reading it. Congrats on the 4 star review.Carol L.Lucky4750@aol.com

Hearts Through History RWA Special Interest Chapter

Through this chapter we gather and discuss different aspects of historical romance, how they fit into the genre and how we, as writers, can further perfect and promote romance fiction. We are a tight-knit community of writers, both published and non-published, and we welcome new members of like mind and like passion to join us. http://www.heartsthroughhistory.com/

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